Shutdown beats the alternativeYes, it is frustrating. The government should run smoothly and efficiently, going about its business and getting things done without much pomp and circumstance. Having the government shut down, well, it’s inconvenient for many of us — no museums, zoos or national parks. For others, who either work in nonessential government jobs (and who are not working and not getting paid) it’s more than an inconvenience. Just imagine if you were suddenly to...

Uncle Sam can’t refuse to pay billsAs this column is being written, the government is shut down, which is bad, but temporary. The bigger debate is over raising the debt limit, which will be reached on about Oct. 17. The consequences of failing to increase it would be permanent, would cost taxpayers trillions of dollars, and would benefit mostly the foreign creditors who loan our government money. The debt limit was created in 1917 and has been raised routinely, including 18 tim...

A political reflectionMy father was a farmer and yellow-dog Republican all his life. I heard him say innumerable times that the only vote he ever cast that he was ashamed of was the one he cast for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. I do not know when it dawned on me as to the irony of the situation, but I observed the circumstance in 1936 when I was eight years old. We had a neighbor in Indiana that was extremely poor. He drove a 1925 Model T Ford, and in the back win...

Auditors cite lack of records in UA reportOne of the most disturbing things about the Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing Committee’s investigative report on the financial practices of the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Division of University Advancement is that the picture could be even worse except for the lack of records. Why that’s the case remains to be seen. In fact, a Washington County prosecutor has begun an investigation into accusations that UAF Chancellor G. David Gear...

Obamacare is here for nowThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — has dominated the political conversation for the last five years since the legislation was introduced in 2009. Now, at long last, key parts of it are here, but for how long may depend on factors outside either political party’s control. Obamacare has many complicated moving parts. Even an attorney specializing in health care legislation would have trouble dissecting all...

I guess it doesn’t matterI’m a newspaper reporter. It isn’t good for the stomach, but it can be good for reflection on those quiet, cool autumn night shifts in the middle of the week when nothing’s on fire and the street crime is of the ignorable, drug-driven, non-fatal kind. And the circa-1987 florescent lights in the newsroom buzz like sleepy bees, and it’s time to get my baloney sandwich out of the crowded office fridge. And, because I am not without some guile whe...

What conservatives can learn from the popeBeing neither a Catholic nor a religious scholar, I’m in no position to offer opinions on the Roman Catholic Church or its doctrine. Yet it seems to me that conservatives might learn a thing or two from Pope Francis when it comes to messaging and tone. The pope, it is widely reported, has “recast the Catholic Church’s image” by focusing on its “inviting, merciful aspects” — even “shocking,” as The Washington Post put it — to a planeload of rep...

Elections revisitedSept. 17 marked the end of the election year in the Arkansas River Valley — unless, of course, you’re running for a state or national office, then you never stop running, even if you already serve one office and launch a campaign for another. Russellville had its busiest election year in a while with one election in August and two in September. The school elections were scheduled, of course, but we want to focus today on the Walmart zoning ord...

Insurance issue tests Beebe, lawmakersLITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and lawmakers agree that they need to fix the state’s teacher insurance system before rate hikes of up to 50 percent hit next year. Turning that consensus into a plan they can pass during a special session is another matter. Though Beebe seems to be moving closer to call lawmakers back to the Capitol in the coming weeks, the agreement he says is required first on both the short and long-term solutions nee...

History of Mount Nebo women governmentWhile working on some research for another publication I began reading about the history of Mount Nebo, the 1,350-foot mountain near Dardanelle. Today a portion of the mountain is owned by the Arkansas State Parks and is a popular tourist destination for hiking, camping, and skydiving. But back in the late 1800s and early 1900s the mountain was home to multiple privately owned hotels and a local city government. Many of the region’s wealthy, a...

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Meredith Martin-MoatsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Praying for the persecutedAbout three dozen people gathered on the Capitol steps Sept. 26 to pray for a man they have never met who is languishing in a prison on the other side of the world. Pastor Saeed Abedini, 33, a naturalized Iranian-American Christian living in Idaho, was arrested one year to the day earlier while visiting Iran. His crime was building an orphanage. Even though the project had been approved by the authorities, because he is a Christian, he was “un...

Congress’ dysfunctional marriageAre you married? Do you know someone who is? Then let’s consider the following scenario. Two people live under one roof. They both spend way too much money, though on different priorities. Actually, not that different. They fight about this a lot. In fact, they like the drama. Finally, they reach the point where they are hardly speaking to each other. They have their paychecks in hand, but each refuses to deposit the money into their joint che...

A grateful AmericanEarly one morning a few weeks after my wife passed away, I was all alone sitting in my easy chair and got to thinking about the future and the days that lie ahead. All of a sudden the emotion came over me of being so grateful for all the good things I had going for me. First, I was grateful for the extra months the Lord gave me with Viola before He called her home and the joy of taking care of her, as I am sure she would have done for me. In c...

Baby VeronicaThis week, Baby Veronica finally went home — for good. She was adopted at birth by a South Carolina couple who raised her until she was just over 2 years old. Then she was sent back to live with her biological father, Dusten Brown, who had signed away his parental rights but then sought to invalidate the adoption because his tribe had not been notified of it. In June, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act — th...

Only propaganda is ‘good journalism’?Why are liberals in so much denial about liberal bias in the news? Why do they think they’re bending over backward to be “objective” doing that which Republicans see as partisan activism? Daniel Froomkin of the Huffington Post — formerly of The Washington Post — suggests an answer. He is exactly the kind of liberal agitator in the newsroom who wants every news story to be a blazing editorial. Every reporter must divide the world clearly betwee...

Why the president looks so exhaustedBarack Obama looks exhausted these days. He looks about as tired, in other words, as the nation feels. He knows this. At a speech Saturday, he said that people are always telling him to “hang in there.” “Don’t worry about me!” Obama said. “I am still fired up ... because I still see the work that needs to be done!” The audience cheered and applauded his old slogan from 2008 — “Fired up! Ready to go!” — the old fire in the belly, the old Obama....

UA’s answer: Hire another administratorThe first positive step taken by the University of Arkansas in response to financial woes created by its Advancement Division was to create and fill a new administrative position to exercise “full budget control.” In the world of higher education administration the answer to every problem seems to be to hire another administrator. Timothy J. O’Donnell, a utilities financial executive, will become associate vice chancellor for budget and financ...

High risk, low yieldThis has been the worst time, politically, for President Barack Obama since he took office. Recent polls reveal that public confidence in both his domestic and foreign policies has been falling, amid revelations about their defects and dangers. Even people who once supported and defended him have now turned against him. There have even been rumblings against Barack Obama in the Congressional Black Caucus and among labor unions that were a majo...

United People’s Co-opSeveral months ago this column featured some research on the history and origins of the regional organization, ARVAC and the larger, national VISTA program that helped to create programs such as ARVAC. Created in 1965, the VISTA program was part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Throughout the state, Arkansans were experiencing intense poverty, especially in rural areas. Many were suffering form tr...

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Meredith Martin-MoatsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Coach Kelley for CongressSome occupations should be represented more in Congress: Accountants because they make the numbers add up; engineers because they make things work with quiet competence and efficiency; NFL referees because they follow the rules and do the right thing regardless of the noise around them. Kevin Kelley deserves his own category. The head football coach at Little Rock’s Pulaski Academy high school almost never punts, even on fourth down deep in hi...